Thursday, March 7, 2013

CN Tower Lighting Celebrates A Toronto Symphony

CN Tower lighting pays tribute to World Première

of Tod Machover’s

A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City

March 9, 2013, approx. 9pm

March 7, 2013 (Toronto, ON) Toronto residents and all those within sight of the CN Tower are invited to watch a unique CN Tower light show synchronized to the world première of A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City - the first symphony created for, by and about Torontonians.

Tune in to TSO.CA for a live webcast where you will hear a live audio feed of the concert as well as see visuals, which will include graphics, video, and photos illustrating both the piece and the process of its creation, alongside a live video feed of the CN Tower’s light show. The complete concert is performed live at Roy Thomson Hall on March 9, 2013 beginning 8pm, and the webcast and CN Tower lighting will be live with the A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City première at approximately 9pm.

What does Toronto sound like? That’s the question that composer Tod Machover and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra have been answering with the help of Torontonians in A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City. Led by Machover, and in partnership with the world renowned MIT Media Lab, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra asked Torontonians to collaborate in creating a work for, by, and about our city.

Thousands of Torontonians participated in the work, and collaboration took place by blog (TSO.CA/Composerandcity) and e-mail, via Skype and smartphone, using audio and video recording and streaming, and through numerous face-to-face meetings and music-making sessions in Toronto. In addition, collaborators used Media Scores and Constellation web music apps (developed at the MIT Media Lab specifically for this project) as well as the MIT Media Lab’s Hyperscore graphic composing software to let anyone create original material or make their personal versions of Machover’s work.

“We embarked on an adventure that has led me to new sounds, new friendships, new discoveries about Toronto, and new ideas about musical storytelling,” said Machover. “When I started the project, my hope was to convey how the incredible diversity of Toronto is wrapped in a beautiful and unified connectivity. Having just finished the piece, I think we have achieved that and I can’t wait to share it with Toronto.”

Working in collaboration with the CN Tower, the light show is designed by the MIT Media Lab's Peter Torpey, who also designed the interactive graphics for the concert hall itself. This light show will visually represent the sounds of A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City and will also be shown on the screens in Roy Thomson Hall alongside live shots of the CN Tower, during the live performance.

“Throughout the year the CN Tower lighting program recognizes citywide events, charitable events and causes, seasons and special holidays,” said Jack Robinson, Chief Operating Officer for the CN Tower. “We are proud to salute this unique composition about our great city and offer viewers a unique personal connection to the CN Tower, TSO and Toronto.”

TSO Music Director Peter Oundjian leads the World première of A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City on March 9 (concert begins at 8:00pm). Tickets are still available for the performance at TSO.CA or by calling the TSO Box Office at 416-593-4828. Listen to a broadcast of A Toronto Symphony:Concerto for Composer and City on CBC Radio’s In Concert on April 21, 2013.

“Our city needs a symphony,” said TSO Music Director Peter Oundjian. “We live in a great hub of creativity, diversity and innovation, and this is the right time to reflect the endless colours and sounds of the city through orchestral instruments.”

Tod Machover

Tod Machover is recognized as one of the world's most imaginative and influential composers, and is also known for his music technology inventions, from a "hypercello" for Yo-Yo Ma to the innovations behind Guitar Hero. In addition to composing boundary-breaking works for instruments and electronics, Machover seeks ways to actively involve the public in music-making, through projects like his interactive Brain Opera or the Hyperscore composing software system. He is also celebrated for his innovative operas, including the "robotic" Death and the Powers which was Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize.www.todmachover.comand http://opera.media.mit.edu

TSO’s New Creations Festival

This special Toronto Symphony Orchestra performance is part of the TSO’s annual New Creations Festival. Heralded by the New York Times as “the orchestra’s signal success in the handling of contemporary music”, the New Creations Festival showcases the hottest works in contemporary orchestral music. On stage at Roy Thomson Hall, Mar 2 – 9, 2013. newcreationsfestival.com

TSO

Founded in 1922, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is one of Canada’s major cultural institutions and is internationally recognized as a leading orchestra. Under the leadership of Music Director Peter Oundjian, the TSO is committed to innovative programming and showcases a roster of distinguished guest artists and conductors. In addition to performances, the TSO serves the community with one of the largest music education outreach programmes amongst North American orchestras, connecting students throughout Ontario with acclaimed curriculum-based programming. TSO.CA

CN Tower

Defining the Toronto skyline, at a height of 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches), the CN Tower is Canada’s National Tower, an engineering Wonder and Toronto’s must see attraction visited by over 1.5 million people annually. Open daily 9 am – 10 pm. With the installation of innovative, energy efficient programmable LED exterior lighting, the CN Tower literally lights up the Toronto skyline each night vividly illuminating the structure in Canada’s official colours of red and white.